Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO (Kickstarter)

Surely you know the Media Players, which at some point they replaced DVD Players. Media players can play almost everything without problems, and some of them can be a proper addition next to HiEnd Home Cinemas.

Popcorn Hour were some of the best media players, which combined low prices and good quality, and although the HTPC has taken the lead, I still have the EGreat Eg-M31B which is a very good player and I prefer it from HTPC.

It seems that their trend will not end so easily as Cloud Media has announced the Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO, a Networked Media Jukebox, which provides perfect analogue sound and superb picture quality. The A-500 PRO team used the Kickstarter platform, so they can release the Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO by the end of 2015.

A-500 PRO has two roles, it is a Hi-Fi stereo and media player on a device. The A-500 PRO uses the best audio DAC, SABRE™ ES9018K2M to deliver high-fidelity audio. It includes three XLR analog outputs, one headphone output and the classic RCA. The A-500 PRO is the only Media Player that has XLR outputs.

In its pros (we can’t talk about its cons, until it will be released) is its renewed interface, the ability to install an internal HDD, its aluminum case, the silent cooling system, the ability to boot on Android ans run its programs and other features that you can see on the Kickstarter page.

Its price is $599, while at the time this article was written, the amount had already gone beyond what manufacturers were asking for. See also some additional images below.